Early Childhood Education Personal Statement Example

I believe that early childhood is the most crucial stage in a child’s life, it has become my goal to be an early years teacher so I can offer support at this important stage and help children learn and grow as they interact with the world around them. The skills children learn at this age will stick with them for life such as reading, writing and communication, to be able to a part of this process would be very rewarding.

During my A-levels, I completed a weeks work experience at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School. I was a teaching assistant for year groups two and three. This role allowed me to work closely with the children and support them in their lessons. This experience was gratifying, and I enjoyed helping the children learn and solve problems. I found myself excited to get to work and see the children and they seemed just as excited to see me. Although I only spent a week at St Joseph’s, I still formed a friendship with lots of the children and learned some essential skills for working with young children such as safeguarding and following a curriculum. Lastly, I taught a child with special needs and supported him in his lessons.

After my A-levels, I decided to take a gap year. Although the pandemic disrupted my original plans I tried my best to make the most of this time and keep motivated. Throughout lockdown, I completed an online course on the Open Learn website through the Open University called “An Introduction to Social Work.” This course covered a variety of subjects including the Attachment Theory developed by John Bowlby. This theory highlights how the brain develops differently depending on what kind of experiences it receives, especially in the early years. I found this very fascinating as I have loved learning about people since I started studying sociology at GCSE. I am intrigued by what influences people to act the way they do and have a particular fascination with how children develop in society. Becoming an early years teacher would allow me to make a difference in children’s lives and see this development first hand.

During my gap year, I also developed leadership and teamwork skills while working at my local café: Deli-Licious. I started this job in 2019 as Saturday help and gradually progressed and gained more responsibility, such as gaining more hours and eventually becoming a key holder. This customer-facing role allowed me to develop good people skills and taught me how to deal with the many characters I came across every day. I was also often in a leadership role allowing me to gain the skills and experience needed to be a good team leader. Furthermore, this job required great communication skills which are very useful when working in a team, especially while looking after children.

I have recently been offered and enthusiastically accepted a job at Bright Horizons Day Nursery as a Nursery Assistant. My responsibilities will include supervising children at playtime, engaging with the children in learning and play activities as well as working with the other nursery staff and attending staff meetings. This job will allow me to build skills such as childcare, proactivity, and time management which will help me build a strong foundation for early years teaching. I am excited to start this job as it is the first step I am taking to pursue a lifetime career in early education.

Studying early childhood studies at university will be a perfect opportunity for me to further my understanding of children in early years and allow me to learn about new areas I haven’t come across yet. My goal is to gain practical experience working with young children while also gaining relevant qualifications to be the best early years teacher I can be.